Bucket 03
National
Parks
Working through the list, one stamp at a time.
Sixty-three parks. This is where the ones we actually get to end up, newest first. Family trips, solo days, and the ones that take a week just to reach. Every park gets a verdict, because the useful question is not whether it was beautiful. It is whether you go back.
One-Time VisitSeen it, got it, no need to return
Go BackUnfinished business
Top 5Plan a trip around it
Arches
October 2026 · Utah
The last day of five parks in a week. Eight arches, Sand Dune Arch the favorite, and Double Arch at golden hour. The rest of Devils Garden is still waiting.
Canyonlands
October 2026 · Utah
One cloudy day on Island in the Sky. Mesa Arch on the lip of the cliff, and a crater nobody can fully explain.
Capitol Reef
October 2026 · Utah
Rain all day, a paved road, and pie from the Gifford House. Last of the five, honestly.
Bryce Canyon
October 2026 · Utah
Down the Navajo Loop and up Queens Garden, among rock that every freezing night is still carving.
Zion
October 2026 · Utah
Our first hike up a river. The Narrows made Zion the first park on this list to reach the Top 5.
Lassen Volcanic
September 2026 · California
A Labor Day whim, seven hours each way. The only park with all four kinds of volcano, and a boardwalk over ground hot enough to cook you.
Haleakalā
February 2026 · Hawaii
Ten thousand feet above the clouds in an afternoon. The park is a One-Time Visit, but Maui around it is the first Go Back on this list.
Saguaro
April 2025 · Arizona
Two hours south of a conference in Phoenix, into the only place on earth the saguaro grows. One day was exactly right.
Olympic
June 2024 · Washington
A family week on the peninsula. Rainforest, coast and river valleys inside one boundary, with real driving between them.
Death Valley
February 2024 · California
Mammoth Cave
January 2024 · Kentucky
Grand Canyon
December 2023 · Arizona
The day after Christmas, on the way to Sedona. One viewpoint at the east end, and a boy at the rail who got there three minutes before his dad.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison
October 2023 · Colorado
Yosemite
September 2022 · California
Sequoia
September 2022 · California
15 parks logged · 10 written up · 48 to go